in a/the post office

[Collapse]

Hello, everybody.
I've got some problems. There is a sentence in 'Essential Grammar in Use' which confuses me - 'Stamps is sold in a post office'. Why is there 'a'? I think that there should be 'the' because we use 'post office' here in a general way. Which is right? Thanks in advance.

[Tdol]

You could use either:

Stamps is are sold in a/the post office.

[billmcd]

Hello, everybody.
I've got some problems. There is a sentence in 'Essential Grammar in Use' which confuses me - 'Stamps is sold in a post office'. Why is there 'a'? I think that there should be 'the' because we use 'post office' here in a general way. Which is right? Thanks in advance.

Reference Tdol's response. But also, your statement about use of "the" for "general" reference is not correct. Rather, we use "a" for general reference and "the" for specific reference.

[5jj]

Reference Tdol's response. But also, your statement about use of "the" for "general" reference is not correct. Rather, we use "a" for general reference and "the" for specific reference.

Not always, at least in BrE, with certain words.

"I am going to the pub/bank/post office/theatre" can mean "I am going out for a drink/a stamp/some cash/to see a play". We do not necessarily have a specific pub/bank/post office/theatre in mind.

[Tdol]

Reference Tdol's response. But also, your statement about use of "the" for "general" reference is not correct. Rather, we use "a" for general reference and "the" for specific reference.

In AnE, do you say go to the bank with a general reference? We do in BrE.

[billmcd]

In AnE, do you say go to the bank with a general reference? We do in BrE.

Here are some "snapshots" from a few English reference sources and I'm sure you understand these general rules and, of course, their exceptions. This is where I was coming from in response to Collapse's post.

You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about.
A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.
A: you use this when you’re not necessarily referring to a specific thing
The: you’re talking about a definite item, which is why the is called a definite article.

And finally (I hope) with regard to Collapse's original post ('Stamps is are sold in a post office'.), given a choice between the use of "a" or "the", I would use "a" and I suspect that most/all of my colleagues would as well. I will attempt to verify that claim and report in the future.

[5jj]

And finally (I hope) with regard to Collapse's original post ('Stamps is are sold in a post office'.), given a choice between the use of "a" or "the", I would use "a" and I suspect that most/all of my colleagues would as well. I will attempt to verify that claim and report in the future.

I am fairly sure that if I were to utter that sentence, I would say, "Stamps are sold at the post office". Actually, as I mght be explaining life in England to a guest who came from a country where you buy stamps at a tobacconist's, I would probably say, "You buy stamps at the post office" (rather than using the passive - but that's irrelevant). I might use 'a' but I think I'd be more likely to use 'the'.

I have just tried the British National Corpus:
at a post office - 8
at the post office - 54

I did not go through all 54 examples of 'at the', but I read quite a few. Whilst some of them were clearly for a previously-mentioned post office, quite a few weren't. In British English, it would seem, most people buy stamps at the post office.

[Tdol]

As another BrE speaker, I would go for the definite article there too, so it's likely to be a difference between the variants.